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Looking for a private tour? We offer customized tours for 1 guest up to 80 guests. We’ll work with you on wineries, food and all other creative wine country offerings. Please call us at 707-207-4236 for more information. Please view our brochure for more details. 2015 Platypus_Brochure

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Check out the new Platypus Wine Tours Video on our home page! We’re excited about this new video, especially the aerial shots. It really does convey the unique nature of our tours – they’re social and fun and really get the our clients into the hidden gem wineries, where they can have a more intimate experience away from the crowds at the mega wineries. www.platypustours.com

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Platypus Wine Tours is thrilled to be ranked No. 3 among the “Top 10 Tours in the U.S.” recently by TripAdvisor and its users. The list is based on the quality and quantity of reviews among travelers around the country by the World’s Largest Travel Community, with more weight given to reviews submitted in the last year.

Wine novices and oenophiles alike are sure to savor the sips throughout this intimate experience. During shuttled group tours that are capped at 12 participants, guests visit four impressive wineries and are treated to a delightful picnic lunch and savory cheese platters. “The great thing about Platypus is that the drivers/hosts know the wineries that are the hidden gems and they are extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of Napa Valley and the wines,” commented a TripAdvisor reviewer.

Pricing:Small group tours of Napa and Sonoma are $110 per person, North Sonoma/Russian River/Healdsburg tours are $99 per person; private tours are priced upon request; winery tasting fees are not included.

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While the types of tours that made TripAdvisor’s Top 10 list vary greatly, the fact that Platypus Tours was included, and ranked so highly, demonstrates the popularity of wine tours in general, as well as Platypus Wine Tours’ position as an industry pioneer in this highly competitive segment.

We always strive to provide exceptional customer service and deliver the most amazing, and fun, wine tour possible every time. With our customers, and, of course, TripAdvisor users consistently giving us such positive feedback and 5 Star Reviews for our Napa and Sonoma Valley and Russian River/Healdsburg Wine Tours, and our resulting placement on this Top 10 Great U.S. Tours list, we have all the validation we need that we continue to get it right. Thank you to TripAdvisor and everyone who took the time to give us a stellar review – we could not be more pleased!

Here’s another of our favorite Wine Country Recipes we’d like to share with you – Red Quinoa Salad, which is occasionally part of the picnic lunch we provide on our Platypus Wine Tours. Enjoy!

Red Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups red quinoa

1 small onion coarsely chopped

2 1/2 cups vegetable broth

3 yellow and/or orange bell peppers, quartered

2 medium zucchini, chopped and blanched

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice (I like a little more than the recipe calls for)

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

White pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 scallions, chopped

Preparation

Prepare grill for cooking.

Wash quinoa in at least 5 changes of water, rubbing grains and letting them settle before pouring off water, until water runs clear. Drain in a large sieve. Add quinoa to a saucepan of boiling salted water and cook 10 minutes. Drain in sieve and rinse under cold water.

Set sieve over a saucepan with 1 1/2 inches boiling water (sieve should not touch water) and steam quinoa, covered with a kitchen towel and lid, until fluffy and dry, about 10 minutes. (Check water level in pan occasionally, adding water if necessary.) Spread quinoa on a baking sheet to cool.

OR – the easy way is to put in rice cooker with a brown rice option and follow directions provided by the rice cooker for brown rice, 2 parts liquid to 1 part dry. For extra flavor, add the chopped onion with the quinoa and broth in the rice cooker.

While quinoa is cooking, grill bell peppers on a well-oiled rack set 5 to 6 inches over glowing coals until slightly softened, about 4 minutes on each side. Cut bell peppers crosswise into thin strips. Peel the peppers after grilling for a nicer salad.

After quinoa cools completely to room temperature, whisk together oil, lime juice, soy sauce, and cumin in a large bowl and stir in quinoa, bell peppers, zucchini, cilantro, scallions, and salt and pepper to taste.

Chef’s Notes:You can make quinoa salad 1 day ahead and chill, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving. If you prefer, grill bell peppers in a hot well-seasoned ridged grill pan over moderate heat.

Stay tuned for more of our favorite Wine Country Recipes from Kathy’s Kitchen at Platypus Wine Tours!

Syrah, Petite Sirah, Shiraz . . . they’re all the same, right? Not quite. While all of these grapes produce big, bold, spicy red wines, one of these things (varietals) is not like the others. In short, Syrah and Shiraz refer to the same type of dark-skinned grape grown in two different regions, while Petite Sirah is a related but different grape.

Syrah and Shiraz wines tend to be very full bodied, bold wines with notes of pepper and dark fruit flavors like blackberries. Generally, European wines are labeled Syrah while Australian wines are labeled Shiraz.

Petite Sirah is an entirely different grape varietal than Syrah (otherwise known as Shiraz) and produces a deep-colored, robust, full-bodied peppery wine with lots of tannins and tends to age well. Petite Sirah never really took off in France, where it was first grown, as it isn’t well-suited to the growing climate, but it became popular in California (particularly Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino), where it thrived for some time. It’s not as popular today as it once was in its heyday in the 70’s.

People seem to either really love or hate Petite Sirah because of its spicy and peppery intensity, compared to Syrah’s smoother, more refined qualities which make it more of a general crowd-pleaser.

Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) is a catchy little number written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans in 1956 and featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Man Who Knew too Much starring Doris Day and James Stewart.

We love Tedeschi Family Winery because they make hand-crafted, premium old world style delicious wines the old-fashioned way, in small batches (about 1200 cases annually) with no shortcuts and offered with family style hospitality.

Tedeschi believes that wine is ultimately defined by the vineyard, and they make their wines to showcase the high quality fruit grown at Tedeschi Family Winery. Their Bordeaux-style wines are balanced, lower in alcohol, and offer complex flavors and aromas, making them perfect for food pairing.

The Tedeschi Family has been producing wines in the Napa Valley since 1919, when the first generation immigrated to America from Pisa, Italy. Emil Tedeschi set out in 1991 to accomplish his dream of redeveloping his father’s orchards in Calistoga and starting his own small family operated winery. To this day, Emil works alongside his two sons, Emilio, Mario, and his daughter, Elaine as they continue to produce handcrafted wines in the tradition of his own Italian heritage.

Tedeschi wines include Cabernet Sauvignon from their dry-farmed Calistoga Estate, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah, Chardonnay, Viognier, and a dry Rosé. And they will be adding Primitivo to their portfolio in the coming year, which we’re all very much looking forward to. With an annual production of about 1200 cases, the workmanship and family aspect of The Tedeschi Family Winery is truly characterized by quality over quantity.

We love coming here for our Join-In Wine Tours, which often includes a personalized tour given by one of the family wine makers showing everything that goes into making their wine – from how they plant, care for, and hand-harvest the grapes, to the aging, blending, and hand-bottling process – making for a truly unforgettable wine tour experience.